Taken By Surprise
by SheBelievedSheCouldSoSheDid
Summary: When Sherlock receives a text from John, he's at a loss at what to do. But of course he helps the man that disappeared from his life 12 years ago. But just as Sherlock managed to push aside his emotions, he discovers the reason John left. Will they manage to get over the past or do they need a certain young girl to push them along onto the right path? Omegaverse
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello everyone,**_

_**This started off as a roleplay prompt on Omegle and after writing 5 chapters, we decided to upload it :)**_

_**We hope you all enjoy it :)**_

(Tues 20:43)

Sherlock, I need your help. –JW

(Tues 20:43)

Who is this? –SH

(Tues 20:44)

John. -JW

(Tues 20:47)

John, as in John Watson.–SH

(Tues 20:47)

Yes. Please, I know it's late but I need your help. –JW

(Tues 20:55)

What's wrong? –SH

(Tues 20:55)

My daughter is missing. –JW

(Tues 20:56)

Please. I can't find her. She'd usually be back by half three and it's nearly nine... I'm freaking out. –JW

(Tues 21:05)

So, you need my help? –SH

(Tues 21:05)

Yes. I need your help, Sherlock. –JW

(Tues 21:06)

We need to talk further. Where can we meet? -SH

(Tues 21:06)

My house, please. In case she comes back. Harry is out looking right now. Lestrade's helping too... –JW

(Tues 21:07)  
[Address] Here. –JW

(Tues 21:10)

Okay. I will be there in 20 minutes –SH

(Tues 21:11)

Thank you. –JW

(Tues 21:25)

Please hurry. –JW

(Tues 21:34)

Outside -SH

John took a breath, extremely nervous about seeing Sherlock after such a long time. Not only was Sherlock the only person he had truly loved but he couldn't get the tall, handsome Alpha out of his mind. He clearly remembered the last time he had seen him and it made his head spin.

He was spread out on the sofa, limbs everywhere, like an octopus capturing its prey wearing his dressing gown over a freshly pressed white shirt and super slim fit pair of trousers. He hung his head over the arm of the sofa, his unique eyes latching onto John just as he entered the living room.

John's heart beat faster as he caught Sherlock staring at him as he went by his daily routine. He could see that Sherlock really wanted to scent him, make sure that no one could touch because they were not bonded but John wouldn't let him like every other day that he went to work. Not only because he felt uncomfortable letting Sherlock rub his scent onto him but also because he knew he would break down, knowing that it would be the last time that Sherlock would ever touch him.

So John quickly said his goodbyes to Sherlock before going to work, trying to force the sharp, bitter feeling back as he went to work and acted like everything was normal. His inner Omega screamed at him, telling him that he was making a mistake but he knew he wasn't. He just had to ignore the voice because that his inner Omega thought was the least of his concerns...

But it wasn't the last time. Sherlock was right there, in front of his house, waiting for him to open the door and let him in. Despite the history between the pair and the panic that overwhelmed him at the thought of seeing Sherlock again, John's concern for his daughter overtook every possible thought that went through his head.

He pulled the door open and gave a quick smile before pulling Sherlock in, ignoring every feeling that hit him as he saw the detective again. "Right! She has two mains friends but she doesn't really go out a whole lot. I've asked her friends, no sign. There's a park she likes but she isn't there..."

Sherlock stood at the door, overwhelmed by all the information that was being fired at him as he was pulled into the house. He took a moment to compose himself, looking at the man who had once been such an important part of his life before processing the information that said man had thrown at him. "What's her name?"

"Alexandra Louise Watson."

"How old is she?"

"12"

"What school does she go to?"

"St Richmond's."

"Does she have any enemies?"

"She has an issue with a girl named Mina but other than that, no. No enemies. Just girls... being bitchy." He laughed nervously while standing still in the middle of the hall, twiddling his thumbs in an attempt to calm himself down. He had no idea what to do. His baby girl had been missing for nearly five hours. Where could she possibly be at this time of night...

Sherlock didn't really know what to think of the circumstances. This girl... John's daughter was lost and John, his ex needed his help. But how could John just disappear from his life and then get in contact with him years later as if he had never been away? It wasn't even as if they had been fighting when John left. They had been happy, really happy, just about to bond but then he wasn't there and even to that day Sherlock didn't know why.

However he realised that he needed to stop thinking about the past. He had a case, an important case and he couldn't let what happened with John all those years ago get in the way of it. John still meant everything to him and if finding his daughter was the only thing he could do to help, then he would find her. All he had to do was treat this case like he would any other one so he could find her and stop John from worrying.

_The Girl._ He couldn't think of her as John's child, simply _The Girl_. It would make it easier for him to concentrate on finding her.

John was jumpy and nervous, hoping that Harry, who was out looking, would text or call to say that she had found his little girl. That would be the best outcome. John couldn't stop coming up with new ideas as to what had happened to her. Anything could have happened. He had a lot of enemies after all of his days chasing criminals with Sherlock and it could be possible, that one of them had kidnapped his precious daughter as revenge for catching them. All he knew was if someone had touched a single curly hair on her head, he would find them and the police wouldn't be able to recognise the body after he was finished with it. But he knew, deep down inside, that Sherlock would find her in perfect condition. If Sherlock meant what he said when he told John that he would do anything to keep him happy, he would bring his daughter back to him in perfect condition.

Sherlock always solved every case (well... most of them)...

John had managed to follow Sherlock's work via Lestrade and the media. Of course he was still doing as well as he was when John was around, possibly even better which was... good. The last thing John wanted was for Sherlock to be unhappy and, if the cases weren't coming in, he knew that the detective would not be happy , at all.

The fact that Sherlock was still doing well without him wasn't unexpected. Sherlock's mind was... well... out of this world and he missed being the one who praised his deductive skills with as many adjectives as possible but he knew that he did not have the right to miss his old life. He was the one who walked away, knowing exactly what he was leaving behind and still did it. Only because he didn't want Sherlock to hate him. He would prefer to never see Sherlock again knowing that Sherlock loved him than tell him the truth and be kicked out knowing that Sherlock hated him.

"Okay." Sherlock said, flicking his eyes around, taking in every detail of the room that he was standing in. The building that John now lived in was defiantly a home... his home. It was more of a home than 221B had ever been to him over the years that they were friends and the year that they were together.

Pictures were everywhere, hung up on the walls, sitting on most of the surfaces. Most of them were of a girl who looked like John and gradually, in each photo, she grew older. This house was John's home. His ex's home. "I will need a recent photo of her so that I can get my homeless network on board. They will be able to find out information about her disappearance quicker than Lestrade's team. "

John nodded, going into the living room and over to the fireplace where his daughter's most recent school photo sat. She was smiling bright, book settled in her lap, and her curls were framing her face. Dark, long ringlets. Beautiful. John handed over the picture with a small sigh. He was worried, his protective omega nature kicking in when he knew that his child was in dangeA. as long as his daughter wasn't upstairs, tucked into her warm bed, he would be worried because that's where she belonged. Always.

Sherlock took the photo that John held out to him and stared at it for a moment. The first thing that caught his attention was that this child, who looked about 15 years old but was really 12, looked like a clone of John in female form. It was quite shocking for Sherlock to see the features that he loved on John, in a child. Although it was not just any child, it was John's and that was what upset him. John had gone and gotten pregnant with a child, without him...

Once upon a time Sherlock was John's alpha, destined to be together until they were old and unable to solve cases anymore. Maybe he should have made John bond with him sooner, that way John couldn't have run away from him, the bond making it impossible for John to leave him... but Sherlock would never do that. He couldn't force John to stay if he didn't want to. John was his own person. A doctor. A soldier. A father...

But stopped himself from thinking about it any further. He could let his emotions rule over him when he had more important things that had to be done. He quickly put up his emotion barrier and continued to examine the photo.

John swallowed and moved closer, pointing to her chin. "She has a scar on her chin now... She got into a fight. It's not all that noticeable but it might help. She disagreed with a girl about something and she has a slight anger issue so... She punched her and parents got called. Anyway... she has a scar."

"Yes, that might help me quite a bit, actually. The girl that punched her, was she the same girl you mentioned before?"

John nodded. "The exact same. They really don't get on... I've tried but the parents are also... disagreeable. Made me want to hit the guy once or twice..."

"Hmmm." Sherlock hummed, thinking through a few ideas that came through his head. He had quite a few theories running through his head but he had to try and sort all the information into a better order if he wanted to find The Girl. He also had some questions that he really wanted to ask, a few more important and more relevant to the case than others but it seemed that he couldn't stop focusing on the unimportant ones.

Sherlock laughed at his inner self. How could he be so self absorbed when John, his John, was going out of his mind with worry because his daughter was missing and he was expecting Sherlock to find her. All Sherlock knew was that if he carried on thinking this way, he wasn't going to find The Girl anytime soon.

"Do you know why they don't get on? And her parents, do you have their number? I could get one of Lestrade's more agreeable officers to call them up and ask where their daughter is? I believe a child that young, _is_ able to do something as... drastic as kidnap another child but I don't believe that is the case. Although I will make sure that the parents are still called." Sherlock suddenly spat out, finally pausing for a moment before spinning around on the spot taking in as much information about his surroundings as possible. "I have missed something. Something really important that could help with the case. I don't know how or why or what it is but I will figure it out. I just need a few more moments to process things because I have only been on this case for... 10 minutes."

John bit his lip, hard during the last bit of Sherlock's little talk. He pulled the skin off of his upper lip until it was so sore that started biting his lower lip instead. He repeated the process, realising that his actions were not helping him one bit. He had to tell Sherlock before he figured it out himself.

"Before we contact them and everything, I should tell you something..." He sighed and lowered his eyes to the floor. "Alex, my daughter, she... Her... She's the reason I left... She's y... She's ours. She's your daughter too. I left because..."


	2. Chapter 2

_**John bit his lip. "Before we contact them and everything, I should tell you something..." He sighed and lowered his eyes to the floor. "Alex, my daughter, she... Her... She's the reason I left... She's y... She's ours. She's your daughter too. I left because..."**_

_**(****)**_

Sherlock stopped still, trying to process what John just said. Breathe caught in his throat and he was unable to breath. _Did he just hear what he thought he did?_

His heart raced at 100 miles per hour. _Daughter. His daughter._ Sherlock didn't believe that it could be possible. They were always carefully. Very carefully. John's contraceptive pills sat on the shelf above the sink in the bathroom reminding John that he had to take them every night. They were always taken, like clockwork and even if he forgot them, once he realised his mistake he could easily take the morning after pill?

Sherlock could still remember the last heat that they had shared despite the amount of time that had passed. It was unlike any heat they had shared in the year that they had been together. It was not rushed nor paced. It left him lost in the moment. On the edge for so long but not long enough. Left adrift in the eyes that stared up at him with adoration, devotion, passion. Finally speaking, no, shouting as the waves of his orgasm came over him. _John..._

At first, everything went on like normal, running around London, solving cases together but just before John's heat was due, he started to act weird. He started working longer hours at the surgery, ignoring his calls when he needed help with a case, sometimes not even coming home for days at a time with only a stupid excuse as to why he was gone. Sherlock had no idea as to what was going on but he just ignored John's strange behaviour and acted like everything was normal. A few weeks later he found John's clothes missing and a note next to his experiments saying:

_I'm sorry, I love you –JW x_

Sherlock tried calling John but every time, he was informed that John's number no longer existed. He searched all through the flat, turning everything upside down, looking for clues as to where John had gone but found nothing. It was like he had vanished into thin air.

That's when he found his secret stash. He walked back through to the living room, making sure not to trip over the mess that he had made. Sherlock carefully opened the small package, letting everything he needed, fall onto the coffee table. He looked at John's note one final time and plunged the needle into his arm, hoping to forget that the omega he loved, had walked away from him...

John sobbed once before collecting himself. "I'm sorry Sherlock. Mina's parent's number is in the address book beside the phone... I'll just go ring them..." John trailed off before heading for the door, avoiding Sherlock's gaze as he did not want to see the hurt in Sherlock's eyes. He had hoped that he would never have to come face to face with Sherlock again let alone tell him the truth about why he left.

Sherlock stayed in the same spot, not moving a muscle, still thinking things over. Even if he wanted to move, he didn't think that it would be possible to do so. He was in shock. Complete and utter shock and he didn't know how to disconnect with this feeling inside of him that kept making him feel...upset. Upset with John because he never told him about his daughter. Upset that he missed years with said daughter. Upset with Lestrade because apparently he knew where John was and never told him, even when he was so close to giving up on life after John left.

John returned a moment later clutching his phone, sobbing quietly to himself. He looked proud, yet extremely angry. So very angry. He walked over to Sherlock and gave him the phone, where a message was displayed, intended for them both.

I knew you'd called him. I'll be back in ten. -AW

"She's always asked about you and wanted to meet you..." John explained through a sob, letting all the worry go as he knew his baby was safe.

"She wanted to meet me." Sherlock asked with disbelief, moving slightly for the first time since he had been told about Alex. "You told her about me?"

John nodded. "Always... She knew from a young age that her daddy was out there somewhere but he was busy fighting criminals so he couldn't be with us. She always asked why she couldn't see you but always avoided her questions. Then as she grew up, she became more and more intent on finding you, looking through my stuff, finding the old blog, listening to the conversations that I had with Greg and my sister. Then she saw an article about you in the newspaper. Your name was there in big bold letters and she put two and two together. Then she found out that I had never told you about her. She became even more adamant asking me every day if she could see you but I was still scared so I said no, then she disappeared and I automatically reached for your number. Harry stopped me at first..." John looked down, ashamed. "She's always been smarter than me..."

Sherlock kept staring at John throughout his little speech. He really didn't know what to think of the situation. It was a good thing that John had told Alex about him right from the start but at the same time he never let Alex see him. "Why were you scared?" He finally asked nervously, hoping that John would not confirm his fears: that his ex was scared of him.

"I... I panicked. We'd been together for just under a year and I didn't want you to tell me to leave and that you didn't want children... you love the game so much... all the crimes and puzzles... I didn't see how you could want a child. So I ran before you could find out. I ran because I was scared." John's voice was quiet as he spoke.

"We could have at least spoken about it! I can't say that I would have reacted calmly but we would have sorted something out." Sherlock paused for a moment, trying not to get too angry and frustrated. He put a hand through his hair and began again. "I should have been there to help you, at least financially... How on earth have you managed to cope financially getting all the things that a child needs and paying for a house? You could hardly manage to keep up with the rent when you lived in Baker Street and that was without the additional cost of a child?"

John blushed, knowing that this next bit was going to make Sherlock angrier than ever. "M... Mycroft. He's helped us... A lot. He understood why I was running and he helped me... I am so sorry. Honestly. I am. I regret it... and I have no excuse, you have a right to be angry, just know I am truly sorry and I won't stop you seeing her. That'd be stupid now anyway..."

"MYCROFT. MYCROFT KNEW! How many people knew where you were and didn't tell me?! And what do you mean by a lot?" Sherlock went from annoyed to furious in a matter of seconds. The sibling rivalry between the pair had always been a little bit... extreme but the fact that his brother had firstly, helped out his ex when he didn't even know where John was and secondly, knew about his then, unborn child, before he did, annoyed him more than words could express. He paced across the lounge hoping to find something that he could take his angry out on.

There was a knock on the door and John froze. He placed a hand on Sherlock's arm. "Please, calm down. That's Alex... Listen, I'll get Harry to come by later and watch her, we can go for a walk and you can shout and scream at me all you like then but for now, please, calm..."

"How the fucking hell am I meant to calm down. In under 15 minutes you have told me that not only do I have a teenage daughter that I was never told about but that you left me because you was scared of how I would react, and that my brother, my brother who I hate, knew about this before I did and subsequently helped you out when that was meant to be _my_ job." Sherlock let the string of words exit his mouth at such a speed that even he was shock about how fast the words had come out. His alpha nature was starting to rise to the surface as he was getting angrier and angrier.

John knew he was wrong to hide this but he was extremely protective of his daughter because she meant everything to him. He didn't want Sherlock to scare her, even if she didn't scare easily. John took hold of Sherlock's arm and pulls him to a stop, looking him in the eyes. "Listen, Sherlock. That girl is my whole world and I know you probably want to kill me right now but unless you calm down right this second, I am going to shove you out that backdoor until you cool off. You are not meeting our daughter for the first time in this state."

The contact between the pair in that moment was electric, especially for Sherlock. For him it was like nothing had changed, that they were back in the past to when they had just revealed their feelings to one another. But that was not the case. "I think that shoving me out the backdoor for a minute would do me some good. I need to regain my composure before... I... I see her."

John nodded, pushing Sherlock towards the backdoor, his hand on his lower back as he opened it, allowing Sherlock to step out before he flashed him another smile and closed the door. He then went to the front door to let his daughter inside, breathing a bit heavier because he could still feel Sherlock's back underneath his fingertips.

Alex strolled in with a grin, not seeming to care she worried her dad sick. "So, where is he?"

John sighed and sat down, giving her a good talking to about disappearing.

While Sherlock was outside he took a couple of deep breaths, trying to regain his composure after such a stressful night. He couldn't believe that this was happening to him. Everyone he spoke to told him that John didn't tell them that he was leaving so he thought that John had left him because he had found another alpha, one better at looking after him, one who wouldn't keep human remains in the fridge. But this had to be a better outcome, right?

When Sherlock heard girl's voice, echoing through the kitchen window and into back garden, he froze. This was... this was his daughter. A child who he and John had made. She had literally been made out of their love and was now the only thing that showed that they had once loved each other.

He didn't even know what to say to her... his daughter. He didn't even like children. He remembered the time when he showed a child, pictures of a murder scene in hope to keep the child quiet for 10 minutes. But John came home and shouted at him, saying that children shouldn't be exposed to such brutal things and instead, John took the child through to his room so that they could watch a funny movie on John's laptop. From then on, John had always dealt with any children that they had come into contact with because he just couldn't deal with children. But now... now he had one of his own. One he would actually have to talk to and get along with...

John spent almost half an hour telling Alex off. By the end of it, she definitely understood why John was upset about what she did, but much like Sherlock, she didn't seem to really realise why what she had done was wrong. But it was wrong, even if what she did meant that Sherlock finally knew the truth. Wasn't that what he had always taught her, that telling the truth was_ always_ the best thing to do? He had learnt that the hard way after Sherlock had come back from the dead.

It was as if John should just be accepting of what she did. Maybe he should but God, the girl had worried him. Although she didn't understand that what she did immoral, he was already thinking about forgiving her... he really was a bad father.

He was going to send the girl up to her room as punishment for her bad behaviour when he remembered Sherlock who was in the garden, probably freezing by now. He rushed to the backdoor and opened it, smiling at Sherlock and gestured for him to come in.

Alex perked up, knowing that she was still getting want she wanted, to finally meet her father. The father she has dreamed about for so many years. Hopefully he would be exactly how she imagined him to be...

_**Thank you for all the follows, favourites and comments that we have received on this fic. We really appreciate it. **_


	3. Chapter 3

John ushered Sherlock back in, leading him through his house. The panic and worry increased with every step, causing his mind to throb as he tried to calm it down. His mind palace was suddenly becoming over crowded with new knowledge and understanding that only causing him to pain further. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't calm down, his body reacting like he had just had several strong, black coffees.

He suddenly froze on the spot, unable to get his body to move. His daughter was in there. She was right there, waiting to meet him. He knew little about her but it seemed that she knew everything about him. It felt nerve-wracking thinking that this girl expected him to be the kind caring father that one saw in movies.

But that was not him. He felt like he should just apologize and go home because no child should have him in their life. He was not good father material. He had no clue how to look after a child and if he was perfectly honest, he had never been interested in finding out. Before today.

He couldn't walk away from his child- _their_ child. He was responsible for her now and he would look after her to the best of his abilities.

He took one cautious step forward so that he could peek into the room. He was able to spot Alex pacing around the room, fiddling with her clothes and hair every so often. So far she had not spotted himself and John standing in the doorway as she seemed to be so nervous that she couldn't focus on anything.

John was standing next to him, looking at his nervous little girl. He did not think that he had ever seen her so anxious in all her life (and that was saying a lot since he got extremely nervous before every rounders match that she participated in!)

Sherlock took another step forward, now standing in the room with Alex only a few paces away from him. Alex's head whipped around, finally spotting Sherlock and was looked at him as though he was the largest Christmas present underneath the tree.

There were a few moments where no one spoke. Alex just stared at Sherlock, a smile on his lips as her fingers twitch. John grinned at that a bit, knowing that Alex really wanted to rush forward and wrap her skinny arms around Sherlock more than anything in the world. He wondered what was holding her back.

While she could be like Sherlock at times when it came to emotions, there was no doubt in John's mind that she understood what she wanted, maybe even needed to do. But once she held onto him, he did not think that she would ever let him go, worried that he would walk away from her. John thought that maybe, just maybe he had painted Sherlock in a bad light, making him seem like all he cared about was the work but years ago, that was what he had lived for. Hopefully now would be a different story.

It was a relief for all of them when she finally took a few steps forward, keeping eye contact with Sherlock all the time. Her eyes widen as she looked him up and down, understanding after all these years what her other father actually looked like in the flesh. Naturally she had seen pictures of him when she researched him every day but she knew that it would be nothing like meeting him in real life. Not at all.

Finally she smiled at him, her dimples showing as her cheeks were pushed aside. Anyone could see how happy she was simply by the look on her face in that moment and it looked like Alex was happy with what she saw.

Then she suddenly hugged Sherlock, arms squeezing tightly around his waist as her face pressed against his shirt, an even larger smile on her face as she got what she wanted. Another person to call family.

When Alex wrapped her arms around Sherlock, he froze (he seemed to be doing a lot of that). As a child, he was rarely cuddled by his parents or by anyone for that matter so this meant that as an adult, he didn't really know how to do so. Of course there was the occasional scary aunt that overwhelmed him with hugs and sloppy kisses but that just made him even more freaked out about the notion of hugging. The only good hugs that he had experienced had been from John but look where they had left him, all alone in the flat that they once shared.

So as the hug continued, her bony arms still around his rather slim waist and her chin wedged into his chest, he tried to figure out where he should put his body. Should he hug her back? Place his arm around her to pull her closer towards him? Place a hand on her head? He really wasn't sure and even though part of his brain was telling him to get her off of him, he let her continue hugging him, eventually wrapping his arm awkwardly around her shoulders.

Alex didn't care much that her father seemed awkward with her hugging him. Physical contact probably wasn't his thing. _Apart from with Dad_ she secretly thought. With everything he'd been told she didn't understand why her dad assumed that Sherlock didn't love him more than the work. Sherlock clearly loved him a hell of a lot from the look she had seen on Sherlock's face when he looked at John a few minutes ago.

With a happy sigh, she pulled out of the hug and looked up at Sherlock. He was tall but she didn't find it intimidating. He looked exactly how he did in the newspaper. Both her parents looked rather lost and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Hi" She said eventually, looking at her father. Her grin hadn't left and it didn't look like it would be leaving anytime soon.

"Hello, Alex." Sherlock replied rather calmly considering where he was and who his reply was intended for. He still had not got his mind around the idea of having a teenage daughter. All he wanted to do was be left alone to go to his mind palace so he could think everything through, understand everything he had learnt in the past few hours. How Lestrade and his brother had betrayed him. How John had never told him the truth. That there was a possibility, a very small possibility that John still loved him... but he couldn't hold onto that, not only because the chance was very small, but also because he was not sure when he would ever be able to forgive John for what he had done even if the Alpha inside him was begging for him to forgive John.

When Alex smiled, she reminded Sherlock a lot of how John used to smile when he had done something amazing. Most of her appearance, for that matter, reminded Sherlock of John, everything except her hair. She had dark black curls that framed her face and went all the way down to her waist but were currently being held back by a hair tie. It seemed that her hair was the only thing that made her look like his daughter.

Although he didn't want to make a bad impression with his daughter, he had to say something to her about how worried John had been when she vanished like that. "I know your father has probably already shouted at you, probably given you the third degree about 'how worried he was and how you really shouldn't put yourself in danger like you did today' but even I have to say that what you did today was risky, necessary but risky nevertheless. And trust me when I say this, I know from experience that doing something that you may seem necessary, in your father's eyes will always be stupid."

Alex found herself chuckling at Sherlock's little speech. He'd pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one. John always thought the wrong things were stupid, like all her dishes in her room where she'd be growing moulds. She'd seen it in his face when he told her off, that she reminded him so much of Sherlock at times. It was clear it hurt him, to see that.

She didn't understand why he never told him. He was scared, obviously, but he's an ex-army doctor who's been shot and once returned home he'd been kidnapped and all sorts. Yet he was scare to tell the man he loved that they were going to have a child together. Alex didn't get her Dad, or humans for that matter, at times.

She looked at them both in turn and had enough decency to be ashamed at the sorry she'd caused. "I'm sorry I worried you. I won't pull anything like that again"

The smile of John's face suggested that he knew she would. He knew deep down that she took after her other father, getting into trouble every five minutes but no one would be able to stop her, no matter how hard they tried.

Sherlock smiled at his... daughter. "Good" he replied, not entirely sure what he was suppose to do in this situation. All he was sure of was that he was not walking away from her. Even though he had only met her a few minutes ago, he already realised how important she was to him. Firstly because she could fill the hole that John left when he walked out on him, but also due to the fact that he could read her like an open book and he saw exactly what he was like when he was her age (but with a slight hint of John about her.)

As time went by, no words were exchanged as they were not needed. They both seemed to understand each other simply by deducing the other person. When Alex was nine, Mycroft insisted on teaching her how to deduce people, explaining that she would be able to do better in life if she could do it. At first John had said no. What was the point in making her spend unnecessary time with Mycroft when she didn't need to? In the end, of course he agreed but now he could see exactly why Mycroft had done it. To make sure that when Sherlock was in Alex's life, they would be able to read each other and instantly _click._

It made John jealous.

While they continued to stare at each other, John decided that he couldn't stand there watching them _bond_ so he slipped on his shoes and a light coat before taking out his phone to check how close Harry was. He then walked out of the room and walked up and down the hall, waiting for Harry to reply so he knew how long he would have to wait until Sherlock killed him. As always, she sent back a message with a very colourful vocabulary saying she'd be five minutes.

While John was out of the room, the staring continued until Alex randomly started to laugh at how strange the situation was, and Sherlock started to laugh with her. Once they had calmed themselves down Alex asked Sherlock about his cases and Sherlock was only too happy to talk to her about them, leaving out all the scary bits as he did not think that John would appreciate it if he told her about some of the really bad stuff.

When there was a knock at the door, John breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that although Sherlock was going to be mad at him (which he really wasn't looking forward to), he would be able to get everything off his chest that had built up over the past few years.

He let Harry in and didn't have to explain further than 'Sherlock's here' for her to nod and enter the living room. She'd even brought an overnight bag. She was an angel, at times.

John can't help but smile at her, knowing that this was another one of many favours that she had done for him. Harry had been a huge help to him, looking after Alex when he couldn't, making sure that there was enough food in the cupboards, giving Alex the whole female and alpha/beta/omega talk when he knew that Alex wouldn't listen to him. He had no way of repaying her for everything that she had done to help and he realised that he never would find a way.

He then walked back into the living room, turning to Sherlock. He smiled a small, fake smile at Sherlock before Harry ordered Alex to her room, only because she bribed her to do so. "Let's go" John said, already walking out of the house.

"Ok." Sherlock replied, following John out of the front door. He stood on the curb of the pavement waiting for a taxi to come by so that they could go somewhere a little bit more private. They would definitely need some quiet too.


End file.
